Device for Supporting a Length of a Control Bar of a Solar Tracking System

ABSTRACT

A device for supporting a length of a control bar connecting two elements separated from one another, with the control bar having a degree of freedom. The device includes a carrier cable extending vertically parallel and opposite the control bar, with a series of hangers connecting the carrier cable to the control bar and arranged to maintain the degree of freedom of the control bar.

The invention relates to a device for supporting a length of a control bar connecting two elements separated from one another, in particular two solar modules of a solar tracking system.

In a solar tracking system comprising a series of solar modules arranged on the ground at a distance from one another, a solar module of the solar tracking system is connected to at least one of the adjacent solar modules by the intermediary of control bars which make it possible to transmit from one solar module to the other one or several movements allowing for the correct positioning over the course of time of the solar treatment element of the solar module. So that, during an operation, the solar module does not cast a shadow onto one of the adjacent solar modules, large distances separate said solar module from its neighbours. Consequently, the length of the control bar that makes it possible to connect said solar module to at least one of its neighbours is substantial. Consequently, under the effect of their own weight, these control bars become deformed by taking a bend, which can lead to a contact with the ground. This deformation and this contact with the ground are detrimental to the correct resistance, on the one hand and, on the other hand, to the precision of the movement transmitted as such from one solar module to the other.

For this purpose it is provided, according to the invention, a device for supporting a length of a control bar connecting two elements separated from one another, with the control bar comprising a degree of freedom, characterised in that it comprises a carrier cable extending vertically parallel and opposite the control bar, a series of hangers connecting the carrier cable to the control bar arranged as such to maintain the degree of freedom of the control bar.

As such, the use of a carrier cable associated with a series of hangers makes it possible to ensure that the control bar remains straight between the two solar modules separated from one another that it connects. In addition the hangers are arranged as such to maintain the degree of freedom of the control bar that they support. Consequently, maintaining the control bar straight while still allowing it its degree of freedom, makes it possible to transmit from one solar module to the other the control movement or movements and this is a sustainable and precise manner.

Advantageously, but optionally, the device for supporting according to the invention has at least one of the following additional technical characteristics:

-   -   each hanger of the series of hangers comprises a receiving and         support housing of the control bar arranged such as to maintain         the degree of freedom of the control bar;     -   the control bar is received in the receiving and support         housing, with an operating clearance that maintains the degree         of freedom of the control bar;     -   the receiving and support housing comprises a first lower         portion that forms a bearing;     -   the first lower portion that forms a bearing comprises a         material that has a reduced coefficient of friction and an         excellent resistance to the outside environment;     -   the receiving and support housing comprises a second upper         portion that forms means for retaining the control bar in the         receiving and support housing;     -   each hanger comprises a housing in the shape of a “U”, extending         vertically from an upper face of the hanger, arranged such as to         receive the carrier cable by making it possible to adjust a         distance between the carrier cable and the control bar;     -   each hanger comprises means for locking the carrier cable in         position in the housing in the shape of a “U”;     -   the device for supporting that supports a length of a second         control bar extending in parallel and at a distance from the         first control bar, it further comprises means that form a spacer         between the two control bars;     -   the device comprises a second carrier cable extending in         parallel and at a distance from the first carrier cable; and     -   the means forming a spacer also form the hangers connecting the         control bars to the carrier cable(s).

Other characteristics and advantages of the invention shall appear during the description hereinafter of two embodiments. In the annexed drawings:

FIGS. 1A to 1C are partial three-dimensional views of a first embodiment of a device for supporting a length of a control bar;

FIG. 2 is a partial three-dimensional view making it possible to show the connection of a second embodiment of a device for supporting a length of a control bar according to the invention with a solar module;

FIG. 3 is a partial three-dimensional view that shows the second embodiment of a device for supporting a length of a control bar according to the invention;

FIGS. 3A and 3B are partial three-dimensional views that show an alternative realisation of the second embodiment of a device for supporting a length of a control bar according to the invention; and

FIG. 3C is a partial three-dimensional view that shows a second alternative realisation of the second embodiment of a device for supporting a length of a control bar according to the invention.

In reference to FIGS. 1A to 1C, a first embodiment of a device for supporting a length of a control bar shall now be described making it possible to maintain a large length of control bar arranged between two adjacent solar modules separated from one another, in such a way that this control bar remains straight in order to ensure a transmission of a movement from one solar module to the other in a sustainable and precise manner. Note that, in the embodiment shown in these FIGS. 1A to 1C, there is a solar tracking system comprising so-called two-axis solar modules for which the transmission of the movement between two adjacent solar modules is carried out with two parallel control bars 4, with each one of the control bars 4 transmitting a movement along a single axis. The device for supporting a length of a control bar comprises a mast 1 which is anchored in the ground supporting the solar modules of the solar tracking system. This anchoring in the ground can be carried out in different ways, well known to those skilled in the art. In particular, the mast 1 is anchored in the ground by driving in or by fastening to a concrete slab. All of these methods allow for a maintaining in position in a stable and sustainable manner of the mast 1 anchored as such in the ground. On a free end of the mast 1, the device for supporting a length of a control bar comprises a transversal element that doubles as a spacer 2 and fastened at the free end of the mast 1 using a clamping system 21. Here, the clamping system 21 comprises a U-shaped metal rod of which the free ends of the branches of the U comprise a threading and pass through holes made for this purpose in this spacer 2. The clamping in place of the spacer 2 on the mast 1 is accomplished by screwing nuts engaged with the threadings located at the free ends of the branches of the U of the metal wire forming the clamping system 21. Such a clamping system 21 allows for an adjustment in height on the mast 1 of the spacer 2. On ends of the spacer 2, the latter comprises means which make it possible to each receive and support a control bar 4. These means form receiving and support housings which, each one, comprise a lower portion that forms a bearing 3 fastened to the end of the spacer 2 using fastening and clamping means 31, here in the form of bolt+nut units. The receiving and support housing of the control bar 4 also comprises an upper portion 5 that forms the means for retaining the control bar 4 in the receiving and support housing. This upper portion 5 extends opposite the lower portion that forms a bearing 3. Again, the upper portion 5 is mounted in a removable manner on the spacer 2 using fastening and clamping means 51, here in the form of bolt+nut units. The first portion that forms a bearing 3 and the second upper portion forming a means of retaining 5 has complementary shapes of an outside surface of the control bar 4 intended to be received in the receiving and support housing. In this way, the two upper 5 and lower 3 portions hug the control bar 4 that they surround. In addition, an operating clearance J is provided between the receiving and support housing of the control bar that forms the upper 5 and lower 3 portions with the control bar 4 once the latter is received in the receiving and support housing. The presence of this operating clearance J allows the control bar 4 received as such to maintain a degree of freedom within the receiving and support housing of the control bar 4. Here, the degree of freedom is the movement of rotation of the control bar 4 about a longitudinal axis of said control bar 4 making it possible to transmit a movement of rotation between the two adjacent solar modules connected as such by the control bar 4. Note that the lower portion 3 that forms the receiving and support housing of the control bar is manufactured and carried out in a material that has for main characteristic a reduced coefficient of friction and an excellent resistance to the outside environment, in particular an excellent resistance to rain, ultraviolet rays and dust. The upper portion 5 of the receiving and support housing prevents, once set in place, the control bars 4 from exiting the receiving and support housing during an operation.

The use of a spacer 2 comprising at each one of its ends a receiving and support housing of a control bar as described above makes it possible not only to ensure that the control bar remains straight between the two solar modules that it connects but also to maintain and ensure a parallelism between the two control bars 4 in the framework of a two-axis solar tracking system.

According to the length of the control bar to be supported, one or several devices for supporting a length of a control bar are installed between the two solar modules in a uniformly distributed manner.

In reference to FIGS. 2 and 3, a second embodiment of a device for supporting a length of a control bar according to the invention shall now be described. In this second embodiment, the device for supporting a length of a control bar according to the invention comprises a carrier cable 10 as well as at least one hanger 30 that makes it possible to vertically connect the carrier cable 10 to the control bar 4 which is intended to be supported by the device for supporting a length of a control bar according to the invention. The FIG. 2 shows in what way is connected the device for supporting a length of a control bar according to the invention to a solar module 140 that is part of a pair of adjacent solar modules separated from one another which will be connected by the control bar or the control bars 4 (in the framework of a two-axis solar tracking system, as shown here). The solar module 140 shall not be described in detail here, except that it comprises at a base a foot 110 which is connected to a base 100 made of concrete directly arranged in the ground, and this, using a fastening and anchoring system 120. The first control bar 4 is connected to the solar module 140 using a first interface 150. Opposite this connection, the solar module 140 comprises first means of anchoring 130 a first carrier cable which is positioned and extended opposite the first control bar 4. This first control bar 4 will make it possible to transmit to the, or from the, solar module 140 a first movement according to a first axis. Similarly, a second control bar 4 is connected to the solar module 140 by the intermediary of a second connection case 160. Again, the solar module 140 comprises second means of anchoring 170 a second carrier cable 10 which is positioned and which extends opposite the second control bar 4. This second control bar 4 will make it possible to transmit from, or to, the solar module 140 a second movement according to the second axis. Note that, at a second solar module connected to the solar module 140 by the first and second control bars 4, the first and second carrier cables 10 are fastened to this second solar module in a similar manner with means of fastening that fulfil a function similar to the means of fastening 130, 170.

Means of adjusting a tension of the first and second carrier cables 10 (not shown) are provided in order to adjust the tension of said carrier cables 10. The means for adjusting a tension are known per se by those skilled in the art and shall not be described any further.

Over the entire length of the control bar 4, as shown in FIG. 3, the device for supporting a length of a control bar according to the invention comprises a series of hangers 30, of which here a single one is shown for each one of the control bars 4, making it possible to connect the carrier cable 10 to the control bar 4 opposite which the carrier cable 10 extends. The series of hangers 30 can be in the number of one, two, three or more distributed uniformly over the length that separates the solar module 140 from the second solar module to which it is connected using control bars 4 and carrier cables 10 of the device for supporting lengths of a control bar according to the invention. This number is according to the length of the control bar 4 intended to be supported by the device for supporting a length of a control bar according to the invention.

The hanger 30 comprises a receiving and support housing 34 of the control bar 4. The control bar 4 is received in its housing with an operating clearance J that allows the receiving and support housing of the control bar 34 to receive and to support said control bar 4 while still allowing the control bar 4 to maintain at least one degree of freedom, which is here a movement of rotation about a longitudinal axis of the control bar 4. This operating clearance J allows the control bar 4 to rotate about its longitudinal axis without becoming locked within the receiving and support housing 34 of the hanger 30.

Extending over this receiving and support housing 4, the hanger 30 comprises, extending from an upper end of the hanger 30, a U-shaped housing 33 intended to receive the carrier cable 10. This U-shaped housing extends over a predetermined length from an upper end of the hanger 30, without however opening into the receiving and support housing 34. The presence of this housing in the shape of a U 33 will make it possible to adjust a distance between the carrier cable 10 and the control bar 34 in order to ensure the fact that the control bar 34 be straight between the solar module 140 and the adjacent second solar module that it connects. The clamping in position of the hanger 30 on the carrier cable 10 is carried out using a clamping device 32 arranged transversally at the upper end of the hanger 30 through two branches that form the U-shaped housing. The use of this clamping system 32 shall make it possible to bring closer together the ends of the branches of the U forming the U-shaped housing 33. During this coming together, the branches of the U of the U-shaped housing 33 will pinch the carrier cable 10 and as such maintain the distance chosen between the carrier cable 10 and the control bar 4. As an alternative embodiment, the faces opposite the branches of the “U” forming the housing 33 have a series of recesses or cavities that make it possible to define a series of discrete positions of the carrier cable 10 within the housing in the shape of a “U” 33, the carrier cable 10 then being received in a pair of opposite cavities or recesses.

In order to facilitate the assembly in place of the hanger 30, the latter is carried out in two identical portions 31 and positioned symmetrically in relation to one another. A second clamping system 32 is provided at the lower end of the hanger 30 in order to ensure the assembly of the two portions 31 that form the hanger 30. Other alternative realisations are possible of the hanger 30 in order to carry out its assembly in place. The hanger 30 is made from a material that has as main characteristic a reduced coefficient of friction in order to allow for good movement according to the degree of freedom of the control bar within the receiving and support housing 34 and which has an excellent resistance to the outside environment, in particular rain, ultraviolet rays and dust. As such, the receiving and support housing 34 comprises a lower portion in contact with an outside surface of the control bar 34. This lower portion forms a bearing. The receiving and support housing 34 comprises an upper portion opposite the lower portion that forms means for retaining the control bar in the receiving and support housing 34 of the hanger 30.

In reference to FIGS. 3A and 3B, an alternative realisation of the second embodiment of the device for supporting a length of a control bar according to the invention shall now be described. This alternative embodiment is intended to support two control bars 4 extending parallel to each other and which makes it possible to connect two adjacent solar modules separated from one another in a so-called two-axis solar tracking system. The device for supporting a control bar according to the invention comprises, in this alternative embodiment, two carrier cables 10, of which a first carrier cable 10 extends opposite and over a first control bar 4 while the second carrier cable 10 extends in parallel to the first carrier cable 10 but in a manner offset in relation to the second control bar 4 in such a way that a distance between the two carrier cables 10 is lower than the distance between the two control bars 4. The connection between the carrier cables 10 and the control bars 4 is carried out by a spacer 40 that has a first elbowed end 44 comprising a receiving and support housing 43 made in a manner similar to the receiving and support housing described hereinabove in the framework of the first embodiment of a device for supporting a length of a control bar. The receiving and support housing 43 comprises a lower portion 3 that forms a bearing and made from a material that has as main characteristic a reduced coefficient of friction and an excellent resistance to the outside environment as described hereinabove and an upper portion 5 forming a means of retaining the control bar 4. The lower portion 3 and the upper portion 5 are fastened as described previously for the first embodiment.

At the second end, the spacer 40 of the alternative embodiment of the device for supporting a length of a control bar according to the invention comprises a hanger 30 similar to the hanger 30 described hereinabove in relation to FIG. 3. This hanger 30 makes it possible to link according to a predetermined distance the first carrier cable 10 to the first control bar 4 along which the first carrier cable 10 is opposite as has been described hereinabove in liaison with the device for supporting a length of a control bar according to the invention shown in FIGS. 2 and 3.

The second carrier cable 10 is fastened in a housing 42 arranged before the elbowed end 44 of the spacer 40. The housing 2 is carried out in the shape of a U from an upper or lower outside edge of the spacer 40. Here, in the example shown in FIGS. 3A and 3B, the housing 42 in the shape of a U extends from the lower edge of the spacer 40. Once the second carrier cable 10 is received in the housing 42, the device for supporting a length of a control bar according to the invention according to this alternative embodiment, comprises means of retaining 41 the second carrier cable 10 in the housing 42 of the spacer 40 of the device for supporting a length of a control bar according to the invention. During an adjustment that makes it possible to ensure that the two control bars 4 are straight, the spacer 40 is pivoted about the second carrier cable 10 received in the housing 42. A second role carried out by the spacer 40 is to make it possible to ensure the parallelism and the distance between the two control bars 4 connecting two adjacent solar modules of a so-called two-axis solar tracking system. At the most, the housing 42 comprises means for adjusting a height of the spacer 40 in relation to the carrier cable 10 received in this housing 42.

As an alternative embodiment, the relative positioning of the carrier cables 10 in relation to the control bars 4 is regardless. In another alternative embodiment, the two carrier cables 10 are replaced with a single carrier cable 10. Of course, the number of carrier cables as well as the number of control bars can vary according to the needs and technical constraints.

In reference to FIG. 3C, a second alternative embodiment of the second embodiment of the device for supporting a length of a control bar according to the invention shall now be described. This second alternative embodiment is intended to support two control bars 4 extending in parallel to each other and makes it possible to connect two adjacent solar modules separated from one another in a so-called two-axis solar tracking system. In fact, this alternative embodiment of the device for supporting a length of a control bar according to the invention is differentiated from the embodiment shown in FIG. 3 only by presence of a spacer 50 connecting two hangers 30 each located on a control bar 4 and opposite one another. As with the spacer 40 of the alternative embodiment of FIGS. 3A and 3B, a role fulfilled by the spacer 50 is to make it possible to ensure the parallelism and the distance between the two control bars 4 connecting two adjacent solar modules of a so-called two-axis solar tracking system.

Of course, it is possible to make to the invention many modifications without however leaving the scope of the latter. 

1-11. (canceled)
 12. A device for supporting a length of a control bar connecting two elements separated from one another, with the control bar comprising a degree of freedom, the device comprising a carrier cable extending vertically parallel and opposite the control bar; and a series of hangers connecting the carrier cable to the control bar and arranged to maintain the degree of freedom of the control bar.
 13. The device according to claim 12, wherein each hanger of the series of hangers comprises a receiving and support housing of the control bar and arranged to maintain the degree of freedom of the control bar.
 14. The device according to claim 13, wherein the control bar is received in the receiving and support housing with an operating clearance that maintains the degree of freedom of the control bar.
 15. The device according to claim 14, wherein the receiving and support housing comprises a first lower portion that forms a bearing.
 16. The device according to claim 15, wherein the first lower portion comprises a material that has a reduced coefficient of friction.
 17. The device according to claim 16, wherein the receiving and support housing comprises a second upper portion that forms a retainer to retain the control bar in the receiving and support housing.
 18. The device according to claim 12, wherein each hanger comprises a housing having a “U” shape, extending vertically from an upper face of the hanger, and arranged to receive the carrier cable and to adjust a distance between the carrier cable and the control bar.
 19. The device according to claim 18, wherein each hanger comprises means for locking the carrier cable in position in the housing in the shape of a “U”.
 20. The device according to claim 12, wherein the device for supporting that supports a length of a second control bar extending in parallel and at a distance from the first control bar further comprises a spacer between the two control bars.
 21. The device according to claim 20, further comprising a second carrier cable extending in parallel and at a distance from the first carrier cable.
 22. The device according to claim 21, wherein the spacer also forms the hangers connecting the control bars to the carrier cables. 